Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698942261824.pdf (South Africa)
MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 1 of 97 TUESDAY, 16 JULY 2019 ____ PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINI-PLENARY SESSION – NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CHAMBER ____ Members of the mini-plenary session met in the National Assembly Chamber at 10:01.

The House Chairperson Mr C T Frolic took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayer or meditation.
APPROPRIATION BILL Debate on Vote No 36 — Water and Sanitation: The MINISTER OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS, WATER AND SANITATION: Hon House Chairperson, Ministers present, Deputy Minister Mahlobo, Deputy Minister Pam Tshwete, hon members, chairperson of the portfolio committee, the portfolio committee itself, members of the executive councils, members of the boards and councils of water and sanitation entities, representatives of civil society groups and nongovernmental organisations, ladies and gentlemen, MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 2 of 97 in preparation for this Budget Vote, I had to quickly apprise myself of this water and sanitation environment.
So, in the shortest time possible, I had an extremely extensive consultative regime.

I spent a whole day with the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal together with its water boards and its municipalities.

We have had five major workshops within the department with senior management.
We have had two lengthy meetings with the water boards and two meetings with the former Minister of Water and Sanitation, Minister Nkwinti, to whom I am truly grateful for his guidance and generosity of time.

This is a very heavy, intensive induction, given the magnitude of the issues to which we most immediately need to pay attention.

My job is not to go over some or all of the problems; it is to find solutions and to announce those solutions here today.
We have to solve the problems of a sector that no longer enjoys the public confidence that it once had in the early days of our democracy.

I believe that we are on sufficiently firm ground to deal with the matters before us and the proposals that we shall table today have been well thought through and well prepared and they will work.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 3 of 97 The advantages of merging the two departments of Human Settlements and Water and Sanitation have been elaborated on in a previous debate.
It is a long overdue and exceedingly logical step.

This is what makes me optimistic that we will be able to fit in and we will be able to lift the cloud that hovers over the Department of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation.

However, the responsibility still remains enormous, because this department requires urgent and intense attention.

It may take some time, but we will get it right.


We may not possibly continue to enjoy the public’s support and we may continue to receive negative publicity for some time, but alongside it should be a message that we are working on it and will get it right.

The Deputy Ministers and I have enough energy for the task ahead of us.

[Applause.]

Thank you very much.

We also have a very energetic portfolio committee chair.
We will start by settling the senior staff who are in acting positions at an abnormally high rate.

A solidly structured staff complement is crucial to solving the financial crisis on our hands due in large part to irregular expenditure.

Therefore, our first priority is to stabilise the department and allow the officials to regain their confidence.

Because much is to be done, we will operate a seven-day shift for the MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 4 of 97 foreseeable five months to stabilise this ship.
Yes, Deputy Minister, seven days a week.

Within the first five years of our democracy we grasped the nettle and sought to democratise the right of access to water as a basic human right.

Groundbreaking legislation, such as the Water Services Act of 1997 and the National Water Act of 1998, was enacted.

Those laws affirm that everyone has the right of access to water.
They affirm that all three spheres of government have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to achieve every citizen’s basic right of access to water.

The government further acknowledged that the lack of these basic rights was a key indicator of underdevelopment of certain sectors of our population and the manifestation of poverty.

However, the reality of our time is that we have had to move on from that point.
And, unfortunately, those statistics that define underdevelopment as black still remain stubbornly on our footprint.

This is a shameful situation — a right we have declared so long ago, which our people still wait for.

I want to touch on the road that we have travelled now, just to give you context.

For instance, in 1994, an estimated 15,2 million people had no access to basic water supply, and an MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 5 of 97 estimated 20,5 million people lacked basic sanitation.
The total population then was 40 million, of which over 27 million were black.

Within the first five years, the issue of water, its unequal distribution and its absolute necessity was elevated in the consciousness of our people and rightly understood as a human right which our people had been denied by apartheid.

We acknowledge that the lack of this basic right, together with that of sanitation, was a key indicator of the level of underdevelopment amongst the majority of our people.
We have, at huge cost, built 14 dams so far since 1994 in order to stabilise our water situation.

However, when you consider that the people living in the areas surrounding these dams still do not have access to water ... That is a shameful situation.

We are the 30th driest country in the world and therefore we need to increase our capacity.

We need to increase our transformation of access to water.

None of these dams are acceptable to the local populations that live around them.
Unless we transform access to water we will not be able to uphold the right of every South African to access this basic MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 6 of 97 right — a right that cannot be pushed aside because it is an inconvenience to us.

We govern the country on behalf of all the people of the country, who all have the right of access to clean drinking water.

But even if we say so, we should be mindful of how we ourselves have structured ourselves in a way that continues these inequalities.
The biggest problem is that we have to work through a very complex structure in which municipalities are the direct line of access to water, but they are struggling with this huge responsibility.

I saw this for myself in KwaZulu- Natal.

This is an untransformed sector and the most unequally distributed.

We have a situation in which the logic of democratic distribution and access to water has not borne fruit.
Currently, 2,5% of our water is directed to mining, 3% to industrial use, 2% goes towards power generation and 61% is taken up by agriculture.

Ninety-five percent of this agriculture is white agriculture, leaving 27% of our water for consumption by the rest of us.

The primary objective of the National Water Act is to transform the system and democratise the water sector.
Here we have failed MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 7 of 97 to transform the representation in water and its governance as, outside of the municipalities, in the agricultural sector, 95% of licensed water still remains in the hands of white people.

Against this totally untransformed background we have our own gross failings, as the current compulsory licensing regime demonstrates.
Agricultural consumption is largely unmetered, and there are concerns about unauthorised abstraction and water wastage in the sector.

In addition, agricultural users pay a much lower tariff than users of untreated water that is relatively cheap.

Most of the enormous challenges we face have been discussed with the portfolio committee, while the rest are in the public domain.
Briefly, here are some of the problems that we have had to confront and deal with urgently if we are to regain the confidence of our people.

Firstly, we have to manage the problems of an ageing infrastructure on time, but without having the necessary skills and support at the right time or at the right place.

This has resulted in a great deal of reliance on consultants and, as you MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 8 of 97 all know, those services do not come cheap.

We have a response to that.


We will deal with that matter.

We have a misaligned three-tier system for the provision of water that does not lend itself to easy co-ordination.

Most of the skills required at municipal level are not available, resulting again in overpriced consultants.

Our water management is poor.

The constitutional responsibility for water supply and sanitation lies with 144 municipalities that are water services authorities.
Of these, at least 33% are regarded as dysfunctional, while more than 50% have no or very limited technical staff.

Subsequently, the Interministerial Task Team on Basic Services has identified 57 municipalities which account for over 87% of all households living in informal settlements or backyard dwellings, constitute 50% of all backlogs, and are understandably the epicentre of recorded public service delivery protests.
The mines, a major consumer of water, are noncompliant with their water license conditions.

Even when we have solid working infrastructure, we have instead an increase in vandalism and theft.

We have nonpayment for services as a perennial problem for our municipalities.

Our management of projects is poor, MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 9 of 97 resulting in delays.

This, coupled with poor communication, has caused a great deal of harm to perceptions about us.
Of course, the biggest problem is huge financial mismanagement, unfortunately resulting in so many of our top officials at national and municipal levels being under investigation.

It is not a good story.

It is not a situation anyone would be proud of and it is not a situation we should tolerate.

I intend to detail for you now the steps that will be taken to turn this around in the shortest possible time, within the resources made available to us in this financial year.
Sanitation is yet another blight on our screen.

If we are in dire straits with water provision, we are in even direr straits with sanitation, because most of the time we are dependent on water to remove our waste.

Without proper management of our sanitation we face the dire situation of effluent flowing into our rivers.

Examples of these have been circulating on social media and, of course, on television.
With 3 million people who still do not have access to a basic water supply service and 14,1 million people who do not have access to safe sanitation, South Africa invests R42 billion per year into water infrastructure, and R13 billion into sanitation.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 10 of 97 Yet, the estimated capital investment required is R90 billion per year over the next 10 years if we are going to turn this ship around.

We cannot continue bemoaning our plight.

We must provide solutions.


The best we can do right now is to acknowledge that perhaps there have been errors in the past — huge errors which include a lack of transformation and also include huge financial problems.

This is what we are committing ourselves to do.

Firstly, we need to urgently address the matter of our finances.
The department has been allocated a total budget of R16,4 billion in the 2019- 20 financial year, of which conditional grants to local government are R3,6 billion and R2,6 billion for the Water Services Infrastructure Grant and the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant respectively.

The department has, however, entered the current financial year with accruals and payables of R1,7 billion from the previous financial year.
These accruals and payables have had to be carried through to current the budget available for the current needs.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 11 of 97 The department is engaging National Treasury on the significant budget shortfalls of more than R2 billion affecting key projects such as the Emfuleni Intervention Project and Mzimvubu Water Project.
I will be having discussions with the Minister of Finance on the possibility of funding or partnering with the private sector to revive some of these dams currently not catered for in our budget.

Even though municipalities have the responsibility of channelling water to our people, they do not have the infrastructure to deal with the multiplicity of what is required of them.
Therefore, we have decided that we are going to put in place a team of people that will work with the municipalities to turn their fortunes around.

In terms of section 41 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, National Treasury has to monitor payments by municipalities for bulk services.

Accordingly, in terms of section 41(2)(b) of that Act, the water boards submit a report of debt owed, including the arrears owing and the age profile of such arrears.
It is thus prudent to ask National Treasury to do what they are effectively proposing to do for Eskom, which is to top-slice the equitable share of grants for the debt owed as submitted to MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 12 of 97 them, so as to effect the provisions of the Municipal Finance Management Act as outlined above.
This, in simple language, means that the departments of Finance, and Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation must put measures in place to top-slice the municipal grants to service the debt owed to the department and its entities before the grants are paid to municipalities.

This is what we propose to do.

[Applause.]

This will ensure that the sustainable provision of water for both bulk infrastructure and reticulation is ring-fenced.
We would like to make a proposal to the Department of Co- operative Government and Traditional Affairs that municipal employees must be required, as is the case with public servants, to undergo compulsory training so that they are equipped to manage our resources.

They are our frontline and closest link with problems as they occur.

If they are trained, they will move faster and we will have faster responses and can look forward to a time when there is efficiency in our municipalities.
We will review our tendering process.

This has been identified as a major problem.

Therefore, we have to stop the processes underway so that we can apply rigorous standards.

While we MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 13 of 97 review our tender processes, this responsibility will be shared with National Treasury.

We will investigate what has gone wrong so that we can create a system that is leak resistant.
We will revive our construction unit who will, together with members of the construction industry, establish maintenance task teams and attend to much-needed maintenance interventions, especially in the water treatment and recycling stock.

This will allow us to have a highly skilled standby capacity to deal with all eventualities.

We will request Cabinet to declare all major dams national key points.
The department will embark on an intensive campaign to digitise all its stock holding, data and documentation.

For water and sanitation, it means all dams, reticulation networks, treatment and recycling plants and water licences.

This also means that the department will be ready with their database to join the designs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the use of blockchain technology.

Digitised data and its manipulation are baseloads for the development of that revolution.
MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 14 of 97 For all the water infrastructure built and campaigns implemented, there is no culture which is conscious of maintenance – to maintain what we have put down new or repaired from old.

Maintenance is like conservation — is an integral part of protecting resources and preventing damage and neglect, and needs to be ongoing.

There will be new regulations on the conservation of water.

We will appoint river, dams and sewerage inspectors from 1 August 2019.

[Applause.]
[Applause.]

As we have indicated, we will be taking action against Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality for pollution as an example of what should not be done and what we are capable of doing.

[Applause.]

The department has very good technical capacity, and we can go on about the capacity we have and we have these in our water boards and we need to bring them on stream.
All my senior managers will be required to have been vetted, which is a requirement of all public servants, but one that has not been followed through in our case.

We need to lift the fog of negative perception that hangs around this sector.

[Applause.]

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 15 of 97 All current investigations will be fast-tracked and concluded in order that we may move forward.
We will appoint an investigative partner approved by Treasury to deal with all outstanding investigations, fast-track all drawn-out cases, and study the reports of the Auditor-General to ensure there will be follow- through of the consequences that are required.

If needed, we will also call in forensic investigators to assist us to identify where there might be loopholes in our systems.

All blocked projects will be reviewed by a panel of experts, headed by a retired judge, to propose a way forward.
We will put forward a Bill that will transform the water sector, as I have said.

As we talk about transformation of land ownership, we should understand that land ownership with no access to water will take us nowhere.

I therefore hope that this water use Bill will be given priority by all.

[Applause.]

We will eradicate our bucket system within the next six months.

I stick to that.
I stick to that.

We will partner with the private sector and work with our provinces and municipalities to ensure we are as one in the direction we are taking.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 16 of 97 A number of senior officials in critical areas are in acting positions.

The general health of the department needs to be restored by ensuring that staff acting in critical posts like the deputy director-generals are appointed permanently.

Therefore, this is what I would like to do.


I would like to thank the Director-General of Water and Sanitation, Mr Squire Mahlangu, for keeping the ship on course.

He has done a sterling job.

He has kept the department together and this is where we are right now, able to deliver this, because he has made it possible.

Thank you very much for acting, Deputy Director-General.

[Applause.]
[Applause.]

However, I will ask him to return to his post as Deputy Director-General Corporate Management to restore the morale of the staff and ensure the proper functioning of the department.

We need to expedite the outstanding investigations.

I have therefore decided to assign the Director-General of Human Settlements, Mr Mbulelo Tshangana as Acting Director-General for Water and Sanitation.

These are just the immediate, brief turnaround strategies that we need to adopt to recover.

[Applause.]
[Applause.]

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 17 of 97 I would like to thank the dedicated staff of the department, the water boards and our other entities, as well as our partners in the private sector.

I would like to say to you all that it will not be business as usual.

If you find yourself outside your comfort zone, please understand that this is very necessary to regain our integrity.

[Applause.]

While some of us may have time to wonder and ponder, others have to solve the problems.
I would like to thank Gift of the Givers for the support that they gave us in Makhanda and Touws River, where two boreholes were drilled, producing 84 000 litres of water each day.

It is heartening to know that the private sector and private individuals continue to partner with government to ensure the dignity of our people.
I have learned that one of our media personalities, Ms Anele Mdoda, working with Unilever, has raised over R1,2 million since October 2018 towards the building of proper toilets for one of the schools in Lusikiki.

How I would have hoped that that initiative could have come from an opposition party!

[Applause.]

Thank you very much to Anele Mdoda.


I hope that this project will have the necessary take-up and that there will be many more young people who take on this responsibility of assisting MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 18 of 97 government in bringing dignity to our people, especially to our schools.

We call on the private sector, NGOs and ordinary South Africans at large to work with us to provide proper sanitation facilities for our children.
Working together we can achieve more for the benefit of all South Africans, particularly young South Africans in schools.

I would like to congratulate two pupils from a college in Westville who won the 20th National South African Youth Water Prize Competition recently.

These are Kiaran Chetty and Calden Gounden.

I hope that they or their relatives are here with us.

Congratulations to you!

[Applause.]


Finally, I would like to thank my two Deputy Ministers who have assisted me to understand what is going on.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

We will drill into every problem that we come across and, as we have done now, we will solve it.

By the next time we come here, 90% of all the problems we have will have been solved.

I thank you, Chairperson.


Ms M R SEMENYA: Hon House Chair, hon Members of Parliament, our guests and officials in the gallery ... MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 19 of 97 ... ke a le dumediša.

Modulasetulo wa Ngwako, meetse ke bophelo; kelelatšhila ke seriti.

(Translation of Sepedi paragraph follows.)

[... greetings to you.

House Chairperson, water is life; sanitation is dignity.]
The right of access to sufficient water is accorded to everyone in section 27(1)(b) of our Constitution, which states that everyone has the right to have access to sufficient water.

Section 27 (2) requires the state to take reasonable legislative and other measures within its available resources to achieve the progressive realisation of the rights.

These two fundamental rights form the backbone of South Africa’s water laws.
Additionally, water is classified as a resource of exclusive national competency as it does not appear in Schedule 4 and 5 of the Constitution, thus confirming its significance to the country.

As our 2019 election manifesto correctly outlines, we are building a capable developmental state that has improved the lives of millions of our people.
Few countries in this world have succeeded in expanding vital services such as water, MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 20 of 97 sanitation, electricity, roads and housing to so many people in such a short time.

Thus, we, the ANC, at our 54th national conference, resolved on the need to ensure that water provision is addressed as an integral part of human settlement.
The ANC thus welcomes this prioritisation and the merger of the Department of Human Settlements and the Department of Water and Sanitation to ensure that a better life for all is indeed realised.

The amalgamation should be used as an opportunity to champion basic human rights and ensure that resources are adequately utilised to achieve these objectives.
The budget ... and the challenges confronted by the Department of Water and Sanitation to ensure access to water and decent sanitation for all the citizens of our country ... As an open and transparent organisation, we must be upfront and honest about the numerous challenges faced by the Department of Water and Sanitation in its optimal spend of the budget over the last couple of years.
We agree and accept that oversight by committees in this Parliament – the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the portfolio committee under the leadership of Lulu Johnson - has done sterling work.

Other sterling work being done is the investigation by the Special Investigating Unit, MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 21 of 97 SIU, which found a number of financial and nonfinancial transgressions by officials within the department.
We must condemn wrongdoing with the greatest contempt and urge the Minister to work with speed and haste to resolve these challenges.

Heads must roll, Minister!

As the ANC, we remain confident that we have set the foundation within the Freedom Charter and most recently, Vision 2030, as articulated in the National Development Plan.

And this should propel us to work smarter, better and tougher to ensure that the citizens of the country benefit from monies allocated to water and sanitation services.
Over the 2019-20 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework the Department of Water and Sanitation has been allocated an amount of R16,4 billion in 2020, R17,3 billion in 2020-21, and R18,5 billion in 2021-22.

If one had to translate the focus area of each of the department’s programmes to ensure that the National Development Plan and the Medium-Term Strategic Framework for the 2014 to 2019 period ...
The extension and application of the work carried out by the Department of Water and Sanitation on the Medium-Term Strategic MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 22 of 97 Framework will continue to the 2020 and 2024 Medium-Term Strategic Framework.
In terms of ensuring an efficient, competitive and responsive economic infrastructure network, the department has detailed its plans and provided good results in the following areas: improving regulation, funding and investment, and ensuring the maintenance and supply availability of our bulk water resources infrastructure, including dams and inter-basin transfers and bulk water reticulation and wastewater systems.
In terms of creating vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural communities and contributing towards food security for all, the department has detailed its plan by providing good results in the following areas.

The department ensures increased access to quality basic infrastructure and service in the rural areas.
In terms of ensuring responsive, accountable, effective and efficient local government, the department has detailed its plan to work with municipalities and increase the capacity of municipalities to be able to be up to the task.

It is on that note that the ANC wishes to take this opportunity to commend the Minister for a commitment to ensure that the department eradicates the bucket system within six months as she has indicated.
MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 23 of 97 As a responsive organisation, we commit before this House to ensure that, as a committee, we will exercise oversight over this and many other plans without fear of favour.

With regard to South Africa’s implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ...

If one looks at the recent Voluntary National Review Report 2019 by the South African government, it entails South Africa’s implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The report provides an excellent perspective on how government departments, and more especially the Department of Water and Sanitation, can effectively undertake its work by aligning the National Development Plan to Sustainable Development Goal 6.
The report argues that, as previously mentioned, the parameters and the foundation for the developmental agenda for transforming the water and sanitation sector can be seen in, and I quote from the report: The alignment by the NDP to Sustainable Goal 6 is demonstrated through what the NDP envisaged by 2030.

All main urban and industrial centres should have reliable supply to meet their needs, while increasing efficient agricultural water use will support productive rural communities.
Strategic water resource areas are to be protected to prevent excessive extraction and MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 24 of 97 pollution where rivers are shared with other countries, and South Africa needs to ensure that it continues to fulfil its obligation.

Before 2030, all South Africans should have affordable and reliable access to safe water and sanitation and increase water efficiency across all water sectors by 2030.
The ANC supports the Budget Vote of Water and Sanitation with the following conditions: The Minister should submit a turnaround plan detailing how she is going to implement the following issues.

The Minister should stabilise the department by ensuring that the appointment of the executive management is prioritised.

The Minister should make sure that the Standing Committee on Public Accounts’ resolutions and the findings of other institutions are being implemented with immediate effect.
The Minister should implement a consequence management system for wrongdoers and transgressors within the department and its implementing agency.

The Minister should look into transforming and capacitating the internal construction so as to capacitate local municipalities and provinces which will enable them to adequately implement infrastructure projects.
Part and parcel of transformation of this unit should be to ensure that youth, women and people with disabilities are capacitated so that the unit is able to build its own internal technical capacity and MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 25 of 97 not have to outsource these skills.
The Minister should integrate the work of Water and Sanitation with that of Human Settlements and ensure that there is sufficient forward planning of construction and project management and that consistent monitoring and evaluation takes place.

Unauthorised expenditure on the War on Leaks programme should be addressed with immediate effect.
In conclusion, I would still argue that the foundation for the developmental agenda in South Africa has been set with the Freedom Charter which is the living soul of our country’s progressive Constitution, and is the foundation of Vision 2030 of the National Development Plan.

Everything that we are doing is in pursuit of the vision of the National Development Plan, which is to address the triple oppression of unemployment, poverty and equality.
What is needed now from all of us — the departments in this country, but more especially the Department of Water and Sanitation — is to follow what the founding fathers of the Freedom Charter, the Constitution and the recent National Development Plan have envisaged, and use that as the basis for all future planning and commitment in water and sanitation.
As we celebrate the well-lived life of Tata Nelson Mandela, we MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 26 of 97 should do our best to make sure that our people benefit from the work that we do.

Minister ...

[Interjections.]

Dimpša di goba koloi ye e kitimago; ge e eme ga go na dimpša tše di tla e gobago.

(Translation of Sepedi sentence follows.)

[Dogs bark at a moving car; they don’t bark at it when it has parked.]
So, focus on your work, correct the mistakes of the past and move forward and make sure that the ANC does what it is known for, which is delivering service to our people.

All of our people will have water by 2030, and we will work with you and conduct oversight with you.

If you don’t implement your plans Minister, this portfolio committee will come after you and your officials, and deal with you.

[Interjections.]

Minister, but we know that you are a good comrade.


You are a leader in your own right, and you are going to do the best with your deputies.

[Applause.]

Mr L J BASSON: Chairperson, Minister, members and guests, may I start off by congratulating Minister Lindiwe Sisulu on her MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 27 of 97 appointment as Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation.

Only time will tell if the merger of these two departments will work.
Minister, Water and Sanitation is in ICU, with a toxic virus called “Mama Action”.

Yes, Minister, you heard correctly: Nomvula Mokonyane’s virus infected this department to its core.

Now the question is: Will this department survive under Minister Sisulu?

Minister Nkwinti tried with limited success in the short time he was the Minister.

This department is bankrupt with unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure as the new norm.
Irregular expenditure increased from R330 million in the 2014-15 financial year, by 1 800% to a shocking R6,4 billion in the 2017-18 financial year, and by a further R2,5 billion to R8,9 billion in the 2018-19 financial year.

This department is like a runaway train.

This is how the ANC governs.

But wait!

There’s more to come!

On 5 July 2019, National Treasury briefed the portfolio committee in writing on the financial status of this department.
There is an overdraft on the main account which was increased from R199 million to MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 28 of 97 R896 million.

The overdraft on the trading account stands at R1,2 billion and these overdrafts are in conflict with Treasury regulations.

R1,7 billion on accruals payable to service providers for work done in the previous financial year must now be paid from this year’s budget.
This department will have to pay more than R4 billion on accruals, overdrafts and unbudgeted commitments out of the current financial year.

The payment of R4 billion will see the department not meeting its own strategic goals and objectives.

The result?

Little to no infrastructure development, maintenance and dam safety upgrades.

This department is not living up to the slogan: Water is Life and Sanitation is Dignity.

Minister, your department failed to eradicate the filthy, undignified bucket toilets.
A project aimed to be completed in 2016 is still ongoing, costing more than R2,7 billion.

Minister, the buck stops with you to fix this mess.

No more talking!

It’s now your responsibility to sort out this department and remove officials who are involved in creating this mess.

Minister, the DA wants to see your plan and timeframe on how you will turn this department around.
MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 29 of 97 Minister, let me present you the DA’s turnaround strategy to change the critical situation within Water and Sanitation, as follows.

Firstly, to change the financial mess, appoint management that is accountable, with no political interference in the day-to-day running of the department.

Secondly, to protect our water resource, implement the “use it or lose it” principle by transferring underperforming municipal water infrastructure to Water Boards.
Thirdly, to stop the pollution of our rivers and water streams, appoint more Blue Scorpions that will enforce the “polluter must pay” principle.

Fourthly, create rapid response units in the country to assist municipalities that have financial constraints or are without technical skills to maintain infrastructure to deliver quality water.
Lastly, create opportunities for private-sector partnerships with government, in funding, managing, upgrading, maintaining MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 30 of 97 and creating new infrastructure.

This will assist in funding the needed R800 billion over the next 10 years.

Bou ekstra kleiner damme in die opvangsgebiede en strome van bestaande damme, om te verhoed dat oortollige water na die see loop.

(Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)


[Build extra, smaller dams in the catchment areas as well as streams out of existing dams in order to prevent excess water from flowing to the sea.]

Implement this turnaround strategy to prevent a full-scale collapse of South Africa’s water infrastructure.

Minister, I humbly request you to urgently intervene in the dispute between Bloemwater and the Mangaung Metro.

This is a looming disaster waiting to happen.


Communities are suffering without water and the reduction in water pressure is damaging pipelines.

Please, Minister, your attention would be appreciated.

Access to a secure, safe and sufficient source of fresh water is a fundamental requirement for the survival, well-being and socioeconomic development of all humanity.

Yet, this government MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 31 of 97 acts as if fresh water is an everlasting resource.

Well, Minister, it’s not!


On 26 May 2017, I informed Parliament in this Chamber that, prior to the 2016 elections, Nomvula Mokonyane visited the community of Jericho in the North West, had a party in a big tent, and promised water to the community in exchange for votes.

Unfortunately, Minister, three years later, nothing came of that promise.
Every day, the community of Jericho, like this lady, has to walk a dangerous route through bushes to the Sandsloot River to dig for water that the community shares with cattle.

Minister, die DA se boodskap aan u is baie duidelik.

Wanneer Suid-Afrika se waterinfrastruktuur in duie stort, sal dit 56 miljoen mense affekteer, ryk of arm, swart of wit.

Dit sal ongelooflike druk plaas op die ekonomie en voedselsekerheid van hierdie land.
Die ANC-regering laat Suid Afrika in die steek met miljoene mense wat sukkel sonder water, nie as gevolg van droogte nie, maar as gevolg van swak infrastruktuur, korrupsie en die wanbestuur van ons kosbare waterbronne.

Dit is ’n skande!

Ek dank u.

(Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 32 of 97 [Minister, the DA’s message to you is very clear.

When South Africa's water infrastructure collapses, it will affect 56 million people, rich or poor, black or white.
This will put an enormous amount of pressure on the economy and food security of this country.

The ANC government is letting South Africa down what with millions of people struggling without water, not as a result of drought, but because of poor infrastructure, corruption and the mismanagement of our precious water resources.

It’s a disgrace!

Thank you.]

Mrs M R MOHLALA: Hon House Chairperson, the EFF rejects the Budget of Water and Sanitation.
Clean water is a basic human right, but because of some misguided adoption of neoliberal policies that have commodified such a basic right on the principle of user-pay, we are now selling a basic human right.

For five years, we told the ruling party about the people of Giyani who do not have access to clean water.

This is not because there is no water in the area.

The Nandoni Dam is there, 47 kilometres from Giyani, but the people of Giyani are drinking water with animals.
MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 33 of 97 The people of Sekhukhune in Limpopo don’t have water but one of the largest dams in the country, De Hoop, is just few kilometres away.

The people of Ga-Moretsele, Tshehlwaneng, Mampuru, Ga- Masemola, Ga-Marishane and even Jane Furse Hospital are still being supplied through tankering.
We warned South Africa and even went as far as opening a case of racketeering and fraud with the police about money that was being looted by the former Minister, Nomvula Mokonyane, with ANC youth league’s treasurer-general.

But we didn’t have to go to the police.

The evidence of wasteful, irregular and fruitless expenditure in billions was there for all to see.
No one has been arrested, no money has been recovered and many projects remain white elephants, incomplete and a waste of money because of this looting.

Here is the reality for many black people today: Only 46% of households in South Africa have access to piped water in their dwellings.

The people of Jozini in Kwazulu-Natal were promised access to a dam in 2014.
There was not even a reason for the promise or some arrangement to access such a natural resource, but a white farmer who was granted water rights during apartheid refuses to share water with the community.

The people of Jozini MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 34 of 97 continue to depend on water trucks and drink water with animals.

This is their daily reality.

That is why we must discontinue private ownership of bulk water infrastructure.
Government must immediately prioritise water infrastructure at Noxolo, Emfuleni Wothando and eMahlabathini in KwaZulu-Natal, and Malehobo and Sekgakgapeng in Limpopo.

We must prioritise water infrastructure for the people of Lethabong, Thonando, Matlosana, Boikhutso, Tlhakajeng in North West.

Here are simple practical steps government must immediately undertake to start solving the water crisis: Let us develop a digitised infrastructure for water and sanitation.
We must know where our dams, water treatment facilities and taps are.

Let us agree to a nationwide coherent, co-ordinated and funded project to repair all water treatment centres through government- employed workers, not through tenders and contracts.

Let us agree to increase water treatment facility capacity by adding a new water treatment facility in each province by 2021, built by government workers, engineers, artisans and plumbers.

Let us agree to employ 10 000 artisans by 2022.


We can advertise by the end of November and start with 2 000 to be employed by the beginning of January 2020.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 35 of 97 Let us set up maintenance capacity teams to deal with leaks.

The fact that this budget does not have an allocation for water leaks is a crime.

Let us also agree that all schools will have clean running water by 2021.
We must make this a top priority and the department must report to Parliament on a quarterly basis.

That is why we reject this budget.

Mr X NGWEZI: Hon Chairperson, Minister, Deputy Minister, and hon members, this portfolio is one of those crucial ones, as it speaks to affording people the fundamental human right of access to clean water and dignified sanitation services.
There is an urgent need to restore the dignity of the previously disadvantaged who, for centuries, were on the periphery of the development agenda.

In the new democratic dispensation, there was a glimmer of hope that came with the promise of restored dignity, clean governance and service delivery.

However, our government has consistently failed our people in this department.
The purpose of the Budget Vote of the Department of Water and Sanitation is to ensure the availability of water resources, facilitate equitable and MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 36 of 97 sustainable socioeconomic development, and ensure universal access to water and sanitation services.

In 2019, there are still large numbers of people who lack access to clean, running water, especially in the rural areas.

I cannot stress enough the importance of restoring the dignity of the people.
One way of doing this is by totally eradicating that dreadful bucket system.

It is therefore absolutely appalling that the report came back stating that the department underspent on the Bucket Eradication Programme, BEP, yet the programme has not been completed.

That makes absolutely no sense.

At the heart of South Africa’s water issues lies the continued inability to make creative, effective and efficient use of the water we already have.
Climate change is real and has indeed impacted our water supply in recent years, given the increased frequency of extreme weather conditions.
After the Auditor-General published the Municipal Audit Report for the 2017-18 financial year — and the results showed a steady decline in compliance with the implementation of the Auditor- General’s recommendations from the previous financial year — MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 37 of 97 what was alarming was that the unauthorised expenditure incurred during 2017-18 amounted to R933,3 million, while that incurred during 2018-19 amounted to R1,4 billion.
The main drivers for the unauthorised expenditure in 2018-19 include exceeding the budget for goods and services as a result of payments related to the War on Leaks project.

There is a collapse of district governance and internal controls in the King Cetshwayo District of Zululand in KwaZulu-Natal.

Family members of people in positions of power are doing business with the municipality.

Services are either not delivered or not delivered on time.
This department needs to strengthen its relationship with the South African Water Science and Technology community of practice, steered and supported by the Water Research Commission, which is rated by the International Scientific Indexing as being in the top 20 globally.

Taking advantage of our Water Science and Technology asset will not only significantly enhance our water security, but will also result in increased energy and nutrition security, with related improved health security.
MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 38 of 97 The water crisis risk is connected to natural disasters, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse and our collective climate change inaction, and is a critical factor in the failure of global and regional governance.
Olunye udaba oluphuthumayo, Ngqongqoshe ohloniphekile okumele lubhikisiswe ngokushesha, udaba lwamapayipi amanzi eselokhu athengwa kwisabelo mali sika 2014/2015 endaweni yaseJozini, ayethengelwe uhlinzeka abantu ngamanzi kubantu bako Mhlabuyalinga, koMtubatuba, koJozini kanye nakwezinye izindawo zakoMkhanyakude, kodwa namanje asahleli awasetshenziswa, kodwa imali eyachithwa ethengwa yevile ku R100 million ekwakuhloswe ukuthi enze umsebenzi omuhle ngayo.
IsiZulu sithi ke Ngqongqoshe akukwazi ukuthi kungadliwa izinyane le mvubu isiziba sicwebe, ngalawo mazwi sithi noma kunjalo siyayeseka le bhajethi.

(Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)

[Another urgent matter, hon Minister, to be addressed immediately, is the issue of water pipes that were purchased during the 2014-15 budget in the Jozini area, which were bought to provide water to the people of Mhlabuyalingana, Mtubatuba, Jozini and other areas in Mkhanyakude.
To this day, they are not being used, although the money spent was more than R100 million, which was meant for such good work.

Minister, in isiZulu we say, MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 39 of 97 “you cannot do the wrong things and not suffer any consequences.” With those words we say, no matter what has happened, we support this Budget Vote.]

We support this Budget Vote.

I thank you.


Mnr P MEY: Voorsitter, namens die VF Plus, wil ek die agb Minister gelukwens en wil ek haar verseker dat die VF Plus altyd, in belang van Suid-Afrika, saam sal werk.

Ons verskil oor baie dinge in hierdie Parlement, maar daar is een ding waaroor ons vanoggend almal saamstem — water is lewe.

Sonder water sal daar geen lewende wesens wees nie.
Suid-Afrika is een van die 30 droogste lande in die wêreld maar, ten midde van daai droogte, rus daar ’n verantwoordelikheid op die regering om vir elke persoon in hierdie land van water te voorsien.

Ons dink veral aan die platteland, die arm gedeeltes, waar mense ver moet loop en waar water baie skaars is.

In nature, there is no punishment, no reward, only consequences.

’n Watertekort is ’n mensgemaakte probleem.

In 1970 was die Suid-Afrikaanse bevolking 23 miljoen mense.
In 2019, is dit MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 40 of 97 55 miljoen.

Tussen 1960 en 1970 is daar 14 damme gebou.

Tussen 1970 en die vroeë 1980s, is daar 13 damme gebou, met ander woorde, 27 damme is in 20 jaar gebou.

Wat ’n prestasie en wat ’n momument vir elkeen van ons in hierdie land!

Ek verskil met die Minister.

Sy sê dis 14 damme.

Ek dink dis minder, maar ek sal maar hierdie keer met haar saamstem.

[Tussenwerpsels.]

Wel, volgens my statistiek is dit sewe damme wat hulle gebou het.
As ek aan water dink, dink ek aan werkskepping.

Landbou is een van die belangrikste werkskeppingsektore wat jy kan kry.

In die Gamtoos was die Kougadam die afgelope jaar 6% vol.

’n Getal van 6 600 werkers het hul werk verloor.

Dit gaan nie net oor die werkers nie.

Dink aan die huishoudings wat sonder kos in daardie tyd gesit het.

Die Langkloof, wat deel is van die opvangsgebied vir water vir die Kougadam, het ook gely onder waterbeperkings.

Daar gee minder as 80 boere vir 16 000 mense werk.


Ons besef nie die implikasies van water nie.

Dit moet die antwoord wees op ons werkloosheidsprobleem in Suid-Afrika.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 41 of 97 In 2011 het die Besproeiingsraad van die Gamtoos vir Dr Pieter Mulder, as Adjunkminister van Landbou in daardie tyd, genooi en hom gevra of dit nie moontlik is dat hulle die Kougadam twee meter kan lig nie.

Dit sou baie maklik gewees het, want bokant die Kougdam is daar geen grond om uit te koop nie.
Twee jaar later lees ek toe in Die Burger dat hulle die damwal gaan lig.

Dis 2019, en daar is nog geen beton by daar die dam gebruik nie.

Die oplossings in Suid-Afrika, wat water aanbetref, moet vinnig geskiet.

Dit moenie ’n Eskomprobleem word nie.

Ons moenie wag tot die krisis daar is nie.

Ek hoor dikwels dat die ANC beskuldig word van net planne, planne, planne, maar hierdie keer moet ons vroegtydig optree in belang van Suid-Afrika en sy mense.

Ons moet meer dammme bou.


Nou het ek vir u ’n interessante ding om te vertel.

In die vroeë sestigerjare toe het hulle die Beervleidam gebou.

Hy is baie droog deesdae.

Die regering het gebruik gemaak van gevangenes.

Daar is ’n tydelike gevangenis opgerig, want die gevangenes is ook mos werklose mense.

Ek weet dat dit oor menseregte gaan, maar in Suid-Afrika moet ons bietjie positief begin dink.

Ons moet die damwalle verhoog.


Dit is goed om te hoor dat by Clanwilliam gaan die damwal met 13 MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 42 of 97 meter verhoog word.

Dink net aan die mense wat in diens geneem kan word.

Die infrastruktuur in Suid-Afrika is in chaos.

Ek lees in Die Burger dat daar in Lorraine, ’n gedeelte van Port Elizabeth, die afgelope maand 20 pype gebars het.

Dis water wat verlore gaan.

Hoe gaan ons die waterprobleem verder oplos?

Kom ons herlei water.


Daar is duisende en duisende hektaar grond wat brak lê.

Ons kan water kry van die Gariepdam.

Ek dink spesifiek aan die Oos-Kaap.

Ons kan. Ek dink ook in terme van die Noord-Kaap.

Ons moet meer doen om water van hoofbronne te herlei na ander gebiede in ons land.

Ons moet ook nie vergeet dat die privaatsektor ook ’n rol moet speel nie.

Ek wil afsluit.

As ek kyk na die ANC, die DA en die EFF met hulle rassepolitiek, dan wonder ek hoekom Suid-Afrika met die probleem sit.
Want ons het nie kundiges in hierdie land nie!

[Tyd verstreke.]

(Translation of Afrikaans speech follows.)

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 43 of 97 [Mr P MEY: Chairperson, on behalf of the FF Plus, I would like to congratulate the hon Minister and assure her that the FF Plus will always, in the interest of South Africa, work together.

In this Parliament, we differ on many things, but there is one thing we all agree on this morning — water is life.

Without water, there would be no living creatures.


South Africa is one of the 30 driest countries in the world, but in the midst of the drought the government has a responsibility to provide water to every person in this country.

We think especially of the rural areas, the poor areas, where people have to walk far and where water is very scarce.

A water shortage is a man-made problem.

In 1970, the South African population was 23 million people.

In 2019, it is 55 million.


Between 1960 and 1970, 14 dams were built.

Between 1970 and the early 1980s, 13 dams were built.

In other words, 27 dams were built in 20 years.

What an accomplishment and a testament to each of us in this country!

I disagree with the Minister.

She says it is 14 dams.

I think it is fewer, but I’ll agree with her this time.

[Interjections.]

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 44 of 97 According to my statistics, it is seven dams that they have built.
When I think of water, I think of job creation.

Agriculture is one of the most important job creation sectors you can get.

In the Gamtoos, the Kouga Dam was 6% full last year.

6 600 workers lost their jobs.

It is not just about the workers.

Think of the households that were without food at that time.

The Langkloof, which is part of the catchment area for water for the Kouga Dam, also suffered because of water restrictions.

There, fewer than 80 farmers employ 16 000 people.


We do not realise the implications of water.

This must be the answer to our unemployment problem in South Africa.

In 2011, the Gamtoos Irrigation Board invited Dr Pieter Mulder, Deputy Minister of Agriculture at the time, and asked him if it were possible for them to raise the Kouga Dam by two meters.

It would have been very easy, because above the Kouga Dam there is no land to buy out.
Two years later I read in Die Burger that they were going to raise the dam wall.

It is 2019, and still no concrete has been used at the dam.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 45 of 97 The solutions in South Africa, regarding water, must be implemented quickly.

It should not become a problem like Eskom.

We should not wait until the crisis is here.

I often hear that the ANC is accused of just making plans, plans, plans, but this time we must act early in the interest of South Africa and its people.
We need to build more dams.

Now I have something interesting to tell you.

In the early sixties, they built the Beervlei Dam.

It is very dry these days.

The government made use of prisoners.

A temporary prison was set up, because the prisoners were also unemployed people.

I know that it’s about human rights, but in South Africa we need to start thinking a bit more positively.

We need to raise the dam walls.

It’s good to hear that at Clanwilliam the dam wall is going to be raised by 13 meters.
Just think of the people who can be employed.

The infrastructure in South Africa is in chaos.

I read in Die Burger that in Lorraine, a residential area in Port Elizabeth, 20 pipes burst in the past month.

That’s water that is lost.

How are we going to solve the water problem from here on?

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 46 of 97 Let’s divert water.

There are thousands and thousands of acres of land lying fallow.

We can obtain water from the Gariep Dam.

I am thinking specifically of the Eastern Cape.


We can.

I am also thinking in terms of the Northern Cape.

We need to do more to divert water from main sources to other areas in our country.

We must also not forget that the private sector must also play a role.

I want to conclude.

Looking at the ANC, the DA and the EFF, with their racial politics, I wonder why South Africa has this problem.

Because we do not have experts in this country!

[Time expired.]]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS, WATER AND SANITATION: Hon Acting Chairperson, Hon Xasa, Mqwathi, our Minister, Comrade Lindiwe Sisulu and other Ministers that are here, our Deputy Minister, Comrade Pam Tshwete, the chairperson of our portfolio committee, Comrade Semenya, all the members of our portfolio committee, all members in the House, our esteemed guests that are here, the leadership of our entities that are here, the leadership of various stakeholders in our sector and civil society, and we say welcome to Mama Thembelihle Mkhize from MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 47 of 97 KwaMaphumulo, Baba Zakhele Ngcongco from eMbumbulu and to fellow South Africans.
On 18 July 2019, the nation and the citizens of the world will dedicate 67 minutes of their precious time to celebrate and reflect on the life and times of our first President, Nelson Mandela.

Madiba, in his biography, Long Walk to Freedom, said: I have walked that long road to freedom.

I have tried not to falter.

I have made missteps along the way.

But, I have discovered the secret that, after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.
I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come.

But, I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.

We, as the ANC, have committed some mistakes along the way.

We have been in a position to acknowledge those.

The Minister has presented concrete plans here and there is nothing that you are suggesting on how to fix our challenges.
A lot of progress has been made over the last 25 years in changing the lives of our MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 48 of 97 people for the better, but we are the first to admit that more still needs to be done.

We are inspired by His Excellency, Comrade President Ramaphosa, with the advent of a new dawn — a period of unity, renewal and rejuvenation of our nation.

As the Minister has said, we are hard at work to fix South Africa.

Our climate is far more variable than that of many other countries.
In one year, the amount of rain that falls in one place may be half the annual average.

Now, we must take account of climate change, which will make our natural water supplies even more difficult to predict.

We want to ensure water security for all our people so that their basic needs are met and industry can invest knowing that there is a reliable water supply.

While we cannot guarantee rain for our farmers, we must ensure that their irrigation supplies are predictable and well managed.
As the Minister has said, in urban areas water services are generally high.

We know that taps have run dry in many poor communities, there is unsafe water and unsanitary toilets or no toilets at all and that these are part of the daily experiences of our people.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 49 of 97 Water crises may arise if the right investments, innovations and management decisions are not made at the right time.
This could see jobs and livelihoods being affected, taps running dry and diseases spreading unnecessarily.

We know that our population has grown.

Our economy is dependent upon water.

Therefore, building new infrastructure is part of the work that we will have to undertake.

We must ensure that the planning of our supplies and the development and management of the water resource infrastructure is well respected throughout the world.
We must also protect our scarce resource from pollution and over-use which can damage the environment on which we depend.

We will reinvigorate our long-range planning capabilities.

To do this, we will build on the technical skills that are still available within the sector.
The Minister has spoken on the question of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, so that we can be able to use digitalisation to deal with the issues of water management, how to monitor water use and ensure that there is no pollution in our rivers.

But, there is a limit to what can be achieved by inspectors on the ground.

That is why technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution are the things that we are looking at.
MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 50 of 97 There is a lot of work that the Water Research Commission has been doing and we are going to be building on that.

This includes the work that has been done with the he Department of Science and Technology and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: big data analysis, earth observation, satellite remote sensing and the issues of climate forecasting.
More importantly, we will use technology around new sanitation, where there is going to be low or no water flushing, where waste is locally treated, is therefore non-sewered and can be beneficiated.

On the question of water conservation, we all have the responsibility to manage our water in a wise way.

We must be able to respect and take care of the public infrastructure that we have.
Our municipalities must work with other institutions like the water boards that have contributed significantly to bulk infrastructure development, water treatment and the capability they have built over the years.
We will continue to roll out the following measures around water conservation and demand management: operations and maintenance; education and awareness; increase the amount of water that is reused, notably from acid mine drainage and wastewater; increase MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 51 of 97 groundwater extraction; and explore new technologies, and the Minister is leading on this front.

We will also continue with desalination, especially in coastal towns.
It is very important that if we can’t bring water that side, we can be able to do.

The Minister has noted the complaints by many South Africans and individuals concerned about the deteriorating water quality of our rivers and dams, and about the municipal wastewater treatment works that are not working and polluting our rivers.

She has made an indication that inspectors, from 1 August, will be on the ground.
They will be supported by an antipollution task team comprised of experts from various research institutions, from the department and the sector because the polluter is going to pay.

[Applause.]

We are going to be able to restore the Green Drop and Blue reports so that we can assess how our systems are working.

These are clear plans.

Join us to do those!


We know that, over the past few years, our infrastructure planning and implementation has experienced poor planning, inadequate budgeting, delays in execution, poor maintenance of MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 52 of 97 infrastructure, corruption in procurement, and a lack of technical engineering capacity.
The Minister has directed that we will be able to consolidate our infrastructure planning capabilities in the department, working with Treasury, the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, TCTA, and water boards.

More importantly, all water services authorities, like the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, and the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent, Misa, will work together so that our infrastructure delivery receives the intended consequences.
More importantly, all the water infrastructure grants cannot and should not be diverted for other things.

[Applause.]

We need institutions that are fit for purpose, where local organisations can come together to solve their problems.

We are putting infrastructure development and operation activities into a new structure so that we can focus on strengthening the critical activities of planning.

We will strengthen and streamline our water licenses to stimulate economic growth and development.
We will play our part to ensure that students are supported.

We will recruit competent professionals that are able to licence and monitor our rivers.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 53 of 97 As I close, Madiba has restored our faith and hope when he said: I am fundamentally an optimist.

Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say.

Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward.
There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair.

That way lies defeat and death.

President Ramaphosa has told us that we are optimistic.

We are not going to allow despair.

We are focused.

We need to enhance our existing partnership with civil society and research institutions.

We must also work together where different political parties control local and provincial governments.
We should leave water out of our political contestation.

It is too important to our people and economy to allow it to be a site of conflict.

[Applause.]

[Interjections.]

Water knows no boundaries, knows no politics.

It is not something to play around with.

[Applause.]

We are building a water-secure South Africa, in which every South African will have the opportunity to play their part.

Let’s grow South Africa together!

God Bless South Africa, her sons and daughters!

Thank you.

[Applause.]


MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 54 of 97 Rev K R J MESHOE: Hon Minister, I wish you well and great success in your new portfolio.

Chairperson, the ACDP believes that the dignity of our people is a God-given right.

Our Constitution clearly states that: Everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing.

This simply means that everyone has the right of access to clean water and proper sanitation.
The ACDP also calls on the department to investigate reports that nearly 80% of wastewater treatment plants are barely functioning.

If true, this may explain why the Hartebeespoort Dam, which used to be a very popular and beautiful tourist spot, has turned from blue to green because of an overgrowth of water hyacinth.
Last year, the Vaal River was also so badly polluted that the army had to be called in to assist with cleaning up the mess, and the SA Human Rights Commission had to launch an investigation into what caused the disgusting pollution that violated that community’s right to a clean environment.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 55 of 97 After the investigation, the cause of the problem was found to be raw sewage which came from pump stations that were not properly maintained by the Emfuleni Municipality.
The environmental damage affected tourism and exposed the residents of Boipatong, Sebokeng, Vereeniging and Sharpeville to serious health risks.

It has been reported that green-brown water flows directly from the Cape Flats sewage works into False Bay at Strandfontein, and remains trapped in the surf zone.

The last full national Green Drop Report of 2011 scored the quality of this treated water at only 20%.
Without independent testing, it is very difficult for the public to find out if it has since improved.

The ACDP asks why government does not seek assistance from nations that have the technology to recycle wastewater and sewage to make clean water more readily available for all our citizens.

For example, Israel recycles almost 90% of its wastewater four times more than any other country in the world.

Spain recycles about 25% of its wastewater.


So, I want to request the Minister to consider approaching them for assistance for the sake of our people who need clean water.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 56 of 97 In South Africa, we do not recycle wastewater and sewage, hence the continual environmental damage.

Our rivers and lakes are polluted to the extent of destroying marine life and leaving an unbearable stench that our people must live with.
A countrywide water shortage is a decade away unless urgent action is taken to rehabilitate and preserve our rivers and catchment areas, fix and maintain crumbling infrastructure, and implement water re- use.

Hon Minister, in your concluding statement ... [Time expired.]

Ms T L MARAWU: Chairperson and Minister, let me add my voice to those who have congratulated you.
What makes me happy is to acknowledge the challenges that are facing this department and I don’t doubt the potential we have within the department in terms of addressing them.

With South Africa being an arid country and also listed as one of the driest countries in the world, we should be actively preparing for a national day zero so that, God forbid, when it happens, we are ready.

Hon Minister, in 2014, we experienced the worst form of drought ever.
Areas such as Qwaqwa still don’t have running water and MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 57 of 97 are still recovering from the aftermath.

Warden in the eastern Free State was heavily affected by the severe drought, as were Elliot in the Eastern Cape, Nkomazi in Mpumalanga, Northern Cape towns, most of the Western Cape municipalities, and Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown.
Food security was also heavily affected due to farm taps running dry, thus affecting the gap between supply and demand and the quality of food supplied nationwide.

Hon Minister, we are blessed to be surrounded by coastal areas that are high in humidity and if we capitalise on this by accelerating and piloting Fourth Industrial Revolution-based mechanisms in the supply of water, we will be just fine.

The acceleration of desalination plants must be prioritised.
We must step into alternative water sources such as humidity and build humidity conversion plants and take advantage of the average of 60% plus we enjoy on a daily basis.

Measure extraction to be ecofriendly and not affect the ecosystem.

The ATM is willing to assist in research that will enhance the quality of life for all South Africans leading to the future.
If the Department of Energy was able to tap into sustainable MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 58 of 97 alternative energy, so too can the Department of Water and Sanitation.

Being future oriented is all good and well as it assists us not to be reactive, but the current situation is also alarming if you find that communities in Port St Johns are drinking water from ponds with animals.

Communities in Warden have to beg water from a farmer who privately owns a river.

A privately owned river, Minister!


Imagine that!

Small-scale farmers without water equipment have to forfeit their crops because of a lack of running water.

We are appealing to you, Minister, don’t forget rural sanitation.

The problems we encountering there need your urgent attention.

Supply more tanks, build more artificial dams and tap into alternative water.

But as the ATM we are saying, the sooner you embark on your turnaround strategy, the better.

Please, stabilise the department.


Consequence management must be your priority, then you will get the full support of the ATM.

The ATM supports the budget.

[Applause.]
Ms N N SIHLWAYI: Hon Chair, the hon Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, hon Deputy Minister for Water and Sanitation, David Mahlobo, hon Deputy Minister Pam Tshwete, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee of Human Settlements, MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 59 of 97 Water and Sanitation, the MECs from various provinces who are here today, the executive mayors, hon Members of Parliament, Acting Director-General Mr Mahlangu, chairs and CEOs of the entities and boards, our stakeholders and invited guests, ndiyabhotisa ekhaya.
(Translation of isiXhosa sentence follows.)

[good day at home.]

It is an honour and privilege to deliver this year’s Budget Vote speech after 25 years spent dismantling 330 years of colonialism and apartheid, after which we still experience huge, visible atrocities of the past.

Our people are still dehumanised and our society is oppressed.

Access to clean water and sanitation is not a matter of privilege, but is a basic human right enshrined in our country’s constitution.
The ANC-led government has committed itself and continuously strives to make this right a reality for all South Africans, rich and poor, living in rural and urban areas.

It is this commitment and this need to meet water provision demands that informed the objectives of the ANC’s 2019 Election Manifesto and the NEC’s lekgotla resolutions.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 60 of 97 The ANC’s commitment arose out of our country’s unjust past.
In 1994, it was estimated that 14 million people across the country lacked adequate water supply services, while 21 million — half the country’s population — were without adequate sanitation.

Water is life, ... ... ndive apha.

(Translation of isiXhosa sentence follows.)

[...

I heard here.]

That life was not given to our people for 330 years by an apartheid state which possessed the social mechanism to oppress the majority by the minority.
Umntu andibulisele kwi-National Party nakwi Democratic Party ukuba isaphila!

(Translation of isiXhosa sentence follows.)

[Someone please pass my greetings to the National Party and the Democratic Party if they are still alive!]

These backlogs were much more severe in the poorer black rural areas than they were in the mainly white and more affluent urban areas.
MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 61 of 97 Izizwe zonke ziyanqwala kule nqwelo imasondo-sondo, kule nkunzi bayikhuza ukuhlaba ingekahlabi, ngokuthatha inyathelo lenkqubela lokukhulula abantu bonke beli lizwe ukuze baxhamle inkululeko yelizwe labo bonke ngokulinganayo.
Sothula umnqwazi kuwe ANC ngokusiphathela unyana kaNosekeni, unyana kaHenry ka- Mpakanyiswa, kaGadla, ongene endolosa kule lindlu ngowama-27 kuTshazimpuzi 1994 ezokukhulula amatyathanga kubantu abasisininzi ezandleni zabantu beli lizwe esithi amalungelo yintetho ye-ANC.

(Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)


[All the nations are nodding in this wagon, in this bull that they rebuke before it strikes, for taking the initiative to liberate all the people of this country so that they may enjoy the freedom of their country equally.
We salute you ANC for bringing to us the son of Nosekeni, the son of Henry of Mpakanyiswa, the son of Gadla, who entered the house on 27 April 1994 to free the chains from the hands of the majority in the hands of the people of this country saying that rights are the language of the ANC.]

No other party will emulate that commitment.

The committee noted the legacy report that they received from the department and the challenges encountered by the department.
MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 62 of 97 The Minister has committed to address all of those.

I think all of us heard about the turnaround strategy, and the committee will be able to monitor that quarterly.

The United Nations’ Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action resolved that South Africa had to ensure that clean water is available by the year 2000.

We want to confirm to this Parliament that the ANC-led government in its National Development Plan, NDP, has outperformed that target.
A functional water service – from 85% in 2013 to 90% by 2019 – was given to our people.

The Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, and the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, agree on that target.

The War on Leaks programme – and it is important that we deal with this issue – is where we targeted the budget of this financial year.

We cannot forsake our young people ... which is a redress as well as dealing with the issue of equity.

The Minister has committed to stabilising that particular programme.
Sivile bantwana bam siyeza.

(Translation of isiXhosa sentence follows.)

[We heard you my children and we are coming.]

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 63 of 97 The percentage of households in South Africa with access to pipe or tap water in their dwellings, either off-site or on-site, was 85% as far back as 2002 and 89% in 2015.

It is safe to say that, under the ANC-led government, access to this basic service will be a reality for all, long before the projected year of 2030.
Abantu beli babhala kumacwecwe, ematyeni, babhala kwiibhokisi zeematshisi besithi nabu ubomi esibufunayo, nanga amalungelo.

I- ANC isendleleni ke ngoko isenza ezo zinto sizithunyiweyo.

Andazi nokokuba ukhona na umntu kule Ndlu owakhe wakhangela ukuba bangaphi na abantu ababulawayo kwiminyaka engama-330 ngumbutho endingasawuboniyo nokuba wayaphi na, ukuze khe sixhele ixhwane senze intlambululo apha kule ndawo, sixhele.
Yile Ndlu eyathatha isigqibo ngo-1910 ngemithetho yayo, eyayisithi umntu omnyama makabulawe.

Ikwayile Ndlu eyathatha isigqibo sokuba abantu abasisininzi mabangafumani manzi, mabahlale ematyotyombeni kwaye bahlale emaphandleni kwaze kwakho iindawo zasemaphandleni(i-TBVC states).

Ngoku silungisa loo nto yenziwa nguloo mbutho singawaziyo nokuba waya phi na.

[Kwaqhwatywa].

(Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)


[The people of this country write on papers, on stones, on match boxes saying this is the life we want, there are the rights.

The MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 64 of 97 ANC is on the way to doing what we were sent to do.

I do not even know if anyone in this House has ever looked at how many people have been killed in 330 years ago by the party that I do not even see anymore, so that we can slaughter a lamb to cleanse this place, and slaughter.
It is this House which took a decision in 1910 with its laws, which says a black person must be killed.

It is also this House that decided that the majority of the people of this country should not have access to water, they must live in informal settlements and also live in the rural areas and there were rural areas called TBVC states.

Now we are rectifying what was created by that party which we do not know where it went.

[Applause.]]
[Applause.]]

We agree that there was a Water Act, Act 54 of 1956 which was repealed in 1998.

We do believe that that Act still has a particular clause that needs to be repealed again.

We understand that there are people who are polluting river water.

We do agree that those people need to be taken to task because they do not have space to live here if they undermine our people.

These clauses need to be repealed.


An analysis of the ANC’s Manifesto as well as the ANC lekgotlas shows that the programme that deals with water — Programme 3 of the department, Water Infrastructure Development — is allocated the largest amount of the budget — R13,1 billion this financial year.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 65 of 97 Andilazi eli Sebe kuthiwa alinamali.

Umntu makasinike sibone ukuba alinamali phi na eli Sebe.

(Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)


[I do not know which department is said to have no funds.

Someone should give us a chance to prove whether this department indeed does not have funds.]

R13,1 billion is for the Programme of Water Infrastructure Development and we do believe that the Minister has committed herself to move with us in that particular programme.
In line with this vision of investing in water infrastructure, improving planning in and regulation of the water sector, and monitoring and protecting South Africa’s water resources, the President has committed himself to deal with planning, implementation, then monitoring and evaluation and his department is ready to assist this department, together with National Treasury.

We do appeal to you, hon Minister, to move with the committee in stabilising the department.
The expenditure trajectory is aligned with the ANC’s Manifesto and the Medium-Term Strategic Framework call for development and investment in water infrastructure in order to improve MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 66 of 97 infrastructure backlogs and eradicate bucket sanitation systems.

To this end, the portfolio committee welcomes the Minister’s commitment to ensuring that the department eradicates the bucket system within a short space of time.
An amount of R607 million has been allocated to this programme.

Liphi eli Sebe kuthiwa alinamali?

Abantu bakuthi iminyaka engama-330 bohluthwa ubuntu babo kuba bebesiya ethafeni okanye ezindongeni nasemilanjeni bengenabani.

Abantu bakuthi behamba behlala ematyotyombeni.

(Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)

[Where is the department that is said to have no money?
For 330 years our people were deprived of their identity because they went to the fields or to the abandoned buildings and to the rivers having no one to help them.

Our people lived in informal settlements.]

The department supports the report on condition that the office will go with us.

Thank you.

[Time expired.]

Mr A M SHAIK EMAM: Hon House Chair, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, members of the House and our colleagues in the gallery, the NFP notes the report of the department tabled here today.
This MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 67 of 97 department has the very important mandate of ensuring the availability of water resources to ensure universal access to water and sanitation and facilitate sustainable socioeconomic development.

Minister, I think I must congratulate you on your appointment.

I think you do know and understand and you have expressed the challenges the department is facing which has been going on for quite a long time.
While talking about that, I must tell you, Minister, that, every time the department came to the appropriation committee ...

When we did our oversight, we found corruption allies.

That is what I call it.

I have repeatedly requested them to bring the documents where I was going to prove to them how corruption took place but, to date, nothing has come.

All of them have promised previously that they are going to do it.

Maybe we need to look at Mount Ayliff in the Eastern Cape to see how it really works.
Hon Minister, over and above that, I want to draw your attention to something very important.

I think the President also announced this.

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure talks about infrastructure development.

One of the things we have identified where contracts have been given, is massive water and sanitation contracts.

The goods that are used are MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 68 of 97 imported from India, China and America.
More often than not, these contractors do not have the resources to buy that material and import it.

We found that many of these contracts were standing because of that.

As the NFP, we suggest that we change the model and the way we do business.

Why not, together with the Department of Trade and Industry and the other relevant departments, create an industry to manufacture these goods that we use everyday, not only locally in South Africa, but which we can export to other regions as well.
That is what we have called them to do.

To date, even that has not been looked into.

We also went one step further and suggested that, for the contractors that cannot afford this, why don’t we supply the material and get them to do the labour.

Otherwise, it prevents the small businesses from enhancing their business.

But again, that has not happened.

Coming back to the issue of the water, I want to say that, whilst I agree with my colleagues from the DA, there is a challenge.
I want you to agree that there are also challenges in the Western Cape when it comes to this.

Right now, as I stand here ...

[Interjections.]

... and this not picking on you; I want to find a solution.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 69 of 97 If you take the issue of Langkloof and the water complaints that I have received in the last weeks ... undrinkable water ...

If you look at day zero, it became a DA day zero because there is no more day zero.
It was created because they were going to get money from Israel!

[Interjections].

Let me tell you, we were talking about it.

[Interjections.]

The question is, can we not ...

[Interjections.]

... you have got some expertise.

You have got challenges ... [Interjections] [Inaudible.]

... to find solutions.

The NFP supports the report tabled here.

Mrs S P KOPANE: Chair, on a point of order.

The CHAIRPERSON (Mr F D Xasa): Hon member, what is the point of order?
Mrs S P KOPANE: Chair, firstly let me address the issue of the hon member.

He is not allowed to cross the House like this.

He did it the first time, he did it the second time.

THE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F D Xasa): No, no take your seat, I ask everybody to excuse him.

We will clarify that.

Mrs S P KOPANE: No, he is not a new member, Chairperson.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 70 of 97 THE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F D Xasa): Sit down, hon member.

Mrs S P KOPANE: No, but he is out of order, Chairperson.
Mr L J BASSON: Point of order, Chair.

The CHAIRPERSON (Mr F D Xasa): No point of order.

Mr L J BASSON: Point of order.

THE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F D Xasa): What is it?

Mr L J BASSON: Can I just help the member?

Langkloof is in the Eastern Cape, not the Western Cape.

THE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F D Xasa): Sit down, hon member.

Mr M G E HENDRICKS: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, thank you for taking on this extra responsibility ...

[Interjections.]

THE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F D Xasa): You are too loud.

Hon members.
Hon members.

You are disturbing the speaker.

Continue, hon member.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 71 of 97 Mr M G E HENDRICKS: I want to read into Hansard the following directive of the director of environmental enforcement in the Western Cape, supported by the MEC in the Western Cape.
He writes: You have failed to provide adequate ablution, washing and storm water management facilities as well as adequate solid waste management practices, resulting in significant danger to the health and wellbeing of the inhabitants of Masiphumelele township near the Simon’s Town Naval Base.

The Water and Sanitation Department is one of the most dysfunctional departments, if we listen to you, hon Minister.

Al Jama-ah supports the call by hon Semenya that heads must roll.
We go further and say, charge the errant officials in terms of the National Environmental Management Act because their criminal activities are harming communities.

Deputy Minister, polluters must not only pay, but they must also be jailed.

This is how they harm the community.

Honourable ...

[Inaudible.]

... made a call for rivers to be adopted.

Al Jama- ah adopted the ancient Kuils River and identified the degradation of the river and the harm caused to human beings, horses, livestock and marine life.
We got every TV station, MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 72 of 97 newspapers and online media in South Africa to report on the harm to the Kuils River caused by the Zandvliet Wastewater Treatment Works to which your department gave a water licence.

Withdraw that licence, hon Minister!

They are just not up to it!

Al Jama-ah got a pre-directive from the director of environmental enforcement that the City of Cape Town fixed the horrendous noncompliance.

Then we adopted the Masiphumelele informal settlement.
Maybe you will call for informal settlements to be adopted like the previous hon member asked for rivers to be adopted.

So, we adopted that informal settlement and have worked there for two years.

We work there in the sewerage.

We woke up the Human Rights Commission, quiet for 10 months after receiving a complaint by academics approached by the community.
So we got a horrific finding only matched by that of the Public Protector who issued a statement after she visited at our behest, that conditions are the worst she has seen in her life.

President Zuma also visited there.

So, we got three directives from the director of environmental services for noncompliance with sanitary conditions, and a punitive settlement agreement brokered by the Public Protector.
If you go there now, the MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 73 of 97 conditions are even worse and the reason is that the Green Scorpions and your Blue Scorpions are lame ducks.

I do not know why they call them scorpions; they are ducks!

[Interjections.]

While the Water and Sanitation Department is dysfunctional, the City of Cape Town directorate is guilty of a crime not only against human beings, but also against horses, livestock and marine life.
Let me read another finding which I want to read into the Hansard.

I want to point out that the chemicals and the pharmaceuticals residue being pumped into the Kuils River near Sandvlei not only causes more harm with the polluted sewerage, but also destroys our fishing industry.

Hon Minister, you can count on Al Jama-ah’s support as we adopt more rivers and more informal settlements to carry out our commitment to voters for dignified sanitation – an order of the Freedom Charter.
We welcome the anti-pollution task team.

Thank you very much.

[Time expired.]

Me L H ARRIES: Agb Voorsitter, Minister, Adjunkministers, die EFF, mense in die gallery, spesifiek, ons mense van die gemeenskappe, ons moet almal vir onsself skaam wees dat daar MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 74 of 97 nog, in dié uur en tyd, Suid-Afrikaners is wat emmertoilette gebruik.
Die feit dat slegs 61% van Suid-Afrikaners spoeltoilette gebruik en dat die res van die land nie ordentlike sanitasiefasiliteite het nie en pittoilette en emmertoilette gebruik, is die grootste skande vir die demokrasie van hierdie land.

Minister, kan ons ooreenstem oor ’n landwye plan om by 2021 die emmerstelsel uit te wis?

Laat ons ’n werkbare, praktiese, konkrete, en duidelike oplossing vir die emmerstelsel vind.
Laat ons ooreenstem dat ons teen 2021 aan elke Suid-Afrikaner ’n binnehuise toilet sal voorsien.

Die Departement van Water en Sanitasie het geen, maar geen, kapasiteit nie.

Daar is geen direkteur-generaal wat verantwoordelikheid neem nie en hierdie Parlement kan niemand veraantwoordbaar hou nie, want te veel van hierdie direkteurs- generale is in waarnemende posisies en baie neem vir jare waar.

Persone in waarnemende posisies neem nie besluite nie.
Hulle neem nie risiko’s nie, want dis nie hulle verantwoordelikheid nie.

Dit is hoe mense geld begin steel, want niemand vat vir MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 75 of 97 enigiets verantwoordelikheid nie.

(Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Ms L H ARRIES: Hon Chairperson, Minister, Deputy Ministers, the EFF, people in the gallery, specifically our people from the communities, we should all be ashamed that there are still South Africans who use pit toilets and bucket toilets at this point in time.
The fact that only 61% of South Africans use flush toilets and that the rest of the country does not have proper sanitation facilities and hence uses pit toilets and bucket toilets, is the biggest disgrace to the democracy of this country.

Minister, can we agree on a nationwide plan in order to eradicate the bucket system by 2021?

Let us find a workable, practical, concrete and clear solution to the bucket system.

Let us agree that, by 2021, we will provide every South African with an indoor toilet.
The Department of Water and Sanitation has no, absolutely no, capacity.

There is no director-general who is taking responsibility and this Parliament cannot hold anyone accountable, because too many of these directors-general are in MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 76 of 97 acting positions and many have been in an acting capacity for years.

Persons in acting positions do not make decisions.

They do not take risks, because it is not their responsibility.
That is how people start stealing money, because no one takes responsibility for anything.]

Ms M M GOMBA: Chair, on a point of order: We can’t hear her language.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): No, it is not a point of order.

Ms M M GOMBA: We can also not hear the language.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Well, there is an interpretation on channel 2 into English from the language that the member is speaking.

So you must follow the interpretation.

Continue, hon member.


Mrs E N NTLANGWINI: Chair, on a point of order: I think that member needs to be taken back to the induction because the interpretation service is definitely working.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 77 of 97 The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Thank you for repeating what I have already said, hon member.

Continue, hon member.

Me L H ARRIES: Agb Minister, as ek u na die mense van De Rust toe kan vat, sal u sien hoe pateties die kwaliteit van die water vir dié mense is.
Minister, die EFF ... in drie maande moet alle aanstellings van direkteur-generale gefinaliseer word.

Maar laat ons ook die geld wat gesteel is, terugkry, sodat ons ons diensteverskaffers se geverifieerde fakture, wat reeds so lank uitstaande is, kan betaal.

Minister, die departement van Water en Sanitasie is een van die belangrikste departemente en dit is absoluut hartseer om te sien dat ons mense, die Suid-Afrikaners, so deur hierdie departement vernalaat word.

Dankie.

[Applous.]
Dankie.

[Applous.]

(Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Ms L H ARRIES: Dear Minister, if I could take you to the people of De Rust, you will see how pathetic the quality of the water is for those people.

Minister, the EFF ... within three months all the appointments for directors-general should be finalised.
MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 78 of 97 But let us recover the stolen money, too, so that we can pay our service providers’ verified invoices that have been outstanding for such a long time.

Minister, the Department of Water and Sanitation is one of the most important departments and it is extremely sad to see that our people, the South Africans, are being neglected by this department in this way.

Thank you.

[Applause.]]

Mr M S MABIKA: Chairperson ...

[Interjections.]


The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Order, hon members!

Mr M S MABIKA: ... the DA is shocked by the state of the Department of Water and Sanitation.

It is in a critical condition in the intensive care unit.

The ANC-led government must be ashamed for allowing this critical department to decline.
Water is life and if the ANC-led government continues to fail this department, it is denying the people their important constitutional right to have access to clean water.

Water is also an important source of economic development.

The DA notes all the promises that the Minister has just made.
However, it is so hard to believe that we will see change this MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 79 of 97 time as these are just part of 25 years of unfulfilled promises, because all this mess happened under the ANC’s watch.

The big question is, where were you all these years when this department failed to get clean or unqualified audit reports.

[Interjections.]
[Interjections.]

Irregular expenditure, unauthorised expenditure, overdrafts, accruals, underspending and failing to meet its targets is what this department has managed to achieve over the years.

This department has presented a good budget, like this one, all these years before, but has failed dismally to deliver water to the poor people of South Africa.
Instead, it spent money on untraceable projects while infrastructure projects were deferred, resulting in the department failing to pay service providers, and leaving it with an overdraft of over R896 million.

Kodwa amanzi kubantu dololo.

(Translation of isiZulu sentence follows.)

[But people have no water.]

What a shame!

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 80 of 97 Kuyoze kube nini kubonwa ngokusa ekuphathweni kwezimali zomnyango Ngqongqoshe?

(Translation of isiZulu sentence follows.)


[For how long will the department’s money continue to be misused, Minister?]

For almost all the road closures and protests countrywide, the main reason is increasingly the non-delivery of water.

Emkhanyakude amanzi asenikhiphe inkani kunokuba isimo sibe ngcono siya ngokuba siba sibi kakhulu.

Ejozini kunedamu elikhulu kodwa abantu abahlala eceleni kwalo bagcina ngokuwabuka.

NoNomvula Monkonyane waqamba amanga ethi uyovula amanzi, into engekho.

[Ubuwelewele.]
[Ubuwelewele.]

Sibi isimo eNgwavuma ngikhuluma nje.

Emboza amanzi awekho, empeleni kwaMashabane wonke amanzi awabonwa nakoMseleni.

Awekho amanzi e-Zululand, awekho amanzi eMzinyathi nasoThukela, abantu baphuza nezimbongolo kwesinye isikhathi baze baphoqeleke ukuthi bawathenge ezimotweni bebe bengasebenzi.

Isabelomali sikhishwa minyaka yonke, izimeya nabangani bazo bayazitika nje abananembeza.
Angiyiphathi-ke Ngqongqoshe indaba yenkohlakalo ethinta ukukhokhelwa kwamapayipi angazange afike eMkhanyakude ngezindodla zemali kodwa udaba MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 81 of 97 luyazitshwa kwazise sidla ekhaya.

(Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)

[In Mkhanyakude, water has become a huge problem.

Instead of the situation getting better, it is becoming worse.

In Jozini there is a big dam, but the people who live next to it don’t benefit from the water.
Hon Nomvula Mokonyane also lied when she said that she was going to turn on the water.

That was not the case.

[Interjections.]

The situation is dire in Ingwavuma as we speak.

There is no water at Emboza.

In fact, there is no water at Mashabane and Mseleni.

There is no water in Zululand, UMzinyathi and at UThukela.

People sometimes drink water with donkeys and even have to buy them from cars although they are unemployed.
The budget is released every year but the mayor and his associates are benefiting without conscience.

There is also the issue of corruption, Minister, in respect of the payment for pipes that were not delivered at UMkhanyakude but which were bought for large sums of money.

The matter is being ignored, because comrades are involved.]
Hopefully — because you said you had a meeting with the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 82 of 97 KwaZulu-Natal — maybe they briefed you well so that action can be taken about that.

Kodwa-ke Ngqongqoshe siyawubona umfutho oza nawo nesivinini ... (Translation of isiZulu sentence follows.)
[However, Minister, we can see the momentum and speed with which you are coming ...] ... but we believe, as the DA, that if you were able to promise to eradicate the bucket system in six months in the Northern Cape and Free State, it must be possible to promise people who are suffering without water when you will be able to eradicate non-delivery of water nationwide.
The DA does not want to believe that, like the President who told the nation that he will halve crime in 10 years, you are also dreaming to halve the water crisis in 10 years when people can wait no more.

Minister, spending money on unbudgeted projects must come to an end so as to avoid situations like the War on Leaks programme, because spending money on unbudgeted projects like this one just because the President announced it, is not reason enough.
Ekurhuleni Metro’s corruption involving chemical toilets amounting to R1,9 billion over three years must be dealt with MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 83 of 97 decisively in order to protect the poor people from the looters.

So mayor Masina must relax ... ... angashiswa yiqanda ngoba akasiyo inkukhu.

(Translation of isiZulu sentence follows.)

[... and he must not be anxious like a chicken.]

People are tired of corruption in this department.

They want water now.


Deputy Minister, the issue of failing to deliver water to the people is political because it cannot be correct that, when political parties campaign, we promise people that we are going to deliver water to them.

Yet, when we fail to do so, we come here and say it must be politicised.

I thank you.

[Applause.]

Mr M R MASHEGO: Minister Sisulu, I think you must accept that non-delivery of water is indeed political, and it has been political for some time.
It is one of the reasons that Mr Basson can stand here showing a black woman with water on her head and not a white one.

[Applause.]

[Interjections.]

It says just that!

It is a confirmation that only black people have no water, while MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 84 of 97 whites have water.

So it is indeed political.

We must not lose the point that the FF Plus ... Gee asseblief aan die mense wat daardie water wil hê, die reg tot die water wat jy so hou.
Elke boer wat ’n plaas het, het ’n reg tot water wat nie sy water is nie.

Die Here se water moet asseblief aan die mense gegee word.

(Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

[Please give to the people, who want that water, the right to the water that you are holding on to so dearly.

Every farmer who owns a farm has a right to water that is not his water.

Please, the Lord’s water should be given to the people.]
Hon Minister, we want to note the fact you have appreciated the problems that we are having in the department.

Those problems must not be ignored.

The committee has identified all those problems.

The unfortunate part is that there are people in the committee who have declared to vote against the committee resolutions.

But they come here and quote the committee points one by one as if they are theirs.

[Applause.]
[Applause.]

In the committee they said they would not vote for these particular matters that we have raised as the ANC.

But they own up to it here, and that does not matter.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 85 of 97 UBaba Mandela did say that you cannot judge a person just by how successful they are, but also by how many times they got up after having fallen down.

[Applause.]

The fact that you want this department to rise up after having fallen down is a good intention.
And we want to state that we conditionally believe that everything you said shall be done.

As the chairperson has said, ours is to monitor and conduct oversight.

If we realise that there is a lapse in the process, we will consistently raise those issues without being apologetic about it.

We received a legacy report and the Auditor-General’s report.
Of the R16 billion given to us to spend, we asked the director- general and the Deputy Minister how much of this money they were going to use on new projects.

We were given the number.

That’s why we are putting this precondition.

There is R2,7 billion that is divided into two — R1,7 million and R896 million — that was used either on water leaks or on overdraft that must be paid.

The remainder of more or less R13,9 billion is available.

We asked where they would use it.


We were given the annual performance plans.

We were shown, item by item, and they said, we are going to spend it on this, that and that.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 86 of 97 Where does the issue of a poor department come from?

The APPs are there and they give the figures.

And we believe that if we can follow those processes we are going to have R13,7 billion worth of projects being done and there are the outer years up until 2021 that deal with that.
We are just putting this precondition, Minister.

[Applause.]

Hon Mohlala, there is R6,7 million budgeted for War on Leaks written in the document.

Just look at it and you will find it.

But we are saying that the War on Leaks brigades must be sent to the municipalities to them grow.

We also say that the War on Leaks brigades must start changing the posture of that particular built-in unit which is lily white.

It must be changed and be transformed.


It is a lily-white organisation that does not want to serve our black people in the townships.

And it does not want to allow people to come in.

Minister, we want to see that transformation, and soon.

We are taking the fact that you said, in five months’ time you are going to give us a report ...

It is unfortunate that from the onset uMa Mohlala started by rejecting the budget and then spoke about what must be done.
If you reject and want something to be done how are you going to do it?

Because you must have money to do anything.

[Applause.]

So if you reject it, it means nothing must be done.

That is typical MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 87 of 97 of short-sighted people who have no plans — people who are there to howl like they are doing.

[Applause.]

There is a plan on how to deal with the bucket system.

Of the 12 261 bucket system, 10 000 is in Free State and 2 600 is in the Northern Cape.
There is a plan to deal with them.

But because people do not come to the committee ... Meneer Mey, kom asseblief na die komitee, sodat jy kan hoor wat ons daar sê.

As jy nie na die vergaderings toe kom nie, praat jy hier net wat jy dink en nie wat gebeur het nie.

Dit sal nie help nie.

(Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

[Mister Mey, please come to the committee, so that you can hear what we are saying there.
If you do not come to the meetings, you are here just voicing your thoughts and you do not talk about what is happening.

That won’t help.]

Minister, in Xitsonga ... Hi Xitsonga loko wansati a lovoriwile a ri n’wingi kutani va n’wi nyika masimu leaswaku a rima, a rima kambe vanhu va nga swi voni; wa yimbelela leswaku vanhu va kota ku n’wi twa.
Wa yimbelela aku: MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 88 of 97 Jenjeveta manana Swi na vusiwana Leswa ka n’wina Swi na vusiwana Swi na vusiwana Leswa ka mina Swi na vusiwana U yimbelela risimu hikuva a mi swi lavi ku n’wi vona.

Na wena Holobye, loko vanhu va nga swi voni leswaku u endla yini hina hi ta ku pfuna leswaku va swi vona.

Hi ta va byela vanhu leswaku hakunene ha tirha.

A hi hinkwerhu hi nge hosi, hosi...

[Nkavanyeto.]

(Translation of Xitsonga paragraphs follows.)


[In Xitsonga, when a woman is married and she is a daughter-in- law, she is handed a field to plough.

She ploughs but no one acknowledges it.

She would sing so that people could hear her.

She would sing thus: Jenjeveta manana Swi na vusiwana Leswa ka n’wina Swi na vusiwana Swi na vusiwana MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 89 of 97 Leswa ka mina Swi na vusiwana She sings a song because you don’t want to acknowledge her.
Even you Minister, if people don’t see what you are doing, we will assist them.

We will tell them that we are indeed working.

Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord ...

[Interjections.]]

Mr W F FABER: Chairperson, I can’t hear any Xitsonga here.

I can’t understand Xitsonga as it is not interpreted.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Tune in to channel 11, hon member.

There is a panel in front of you.

Push it until you get channel 11.


Then you put the earphone on and you will be able to hear the interpreting.

Mr W F FABER: I just thought that interpreting is on channel 2.

Thank you.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): No, it’s on channel 11.

Thank you.

Mr M R MASHEGO: Ndi khou mupfesesa mukhuwa.

Ndi mukhuwa.

Arali asa ḓivhi madzina a vhaṅwe vhathu ndi mashudumavhi, fhedzi nṋe MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 90 of 97 ndi khou amba zwoṱhe muṱhannga.
Kha thetshelese u ḓo guda zwiṅwe hafha kha heḽi shango.

(Translation of Tshivenḓa paragraph follows.)

[I understand the white man.

He is a white man.

It is unfortunate that he does not know the names of some people, but I am saying everything.

Listen, and you will learn something in this country.]

Having said that, Minister, the preconditions as put forward by the chairperson of the portfolio committee have been put forward by the committee.
It has been fairly well said by the DA, the FF Plus and the EFF, but they voted against those preconditions.

We believe that we have the department that can move.

We just want you to keep on putting consequence management and we will then have a budget that works.

We support the budget, Minister.

[Applause.]

The MINISTER OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS, WATER AND SANITATION: House Chairperson, I would like to say thank you to all of those who have spoken sense today.
And those who have just been here grandstanding ... that is another matter.

This is a very important budget for our people because indeed, water is life MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 91 of 97 and sanitation is dignity.

We need to make sure that we give this to our people.

The other matters that we have been fighting over here, we can do behind closed doors.

Right now, we need to send a message to our people that we care for them.

We care for their dignity.


We care for their decency and I have not heard much of that now.

However, I want to start off with some of the matters that you have raised with me here.

Hon Basson, I indicated in my speech that we are very aware of all the problems.

I started off with that.

I indicated to you the extent to which we have gone to understand what the problems are and, therefore, how we came to have the plan that we have.

I will go over that plan.


Beyond that, I am not aware of what it is that you would have wanted us to do, but you go on about the problems that all of us know about, and that doesn’t take us anywhere.

Then you said to us that we have to make sure that we deal with the matter of Bloem Water.

We have.

We sent people to Mangaung and we have begun our intervention there.

There is not anything that has been brought to our attention that we have not immediately attended to.
We have put it in our plan and we are dealing with that matter.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 92 of 97 However, between yourself and that gentleman, hon Mabika, there is another member who talked about how the DA has done better.

You know, regarding sanitation, the DA has produced the first most radical social movement here in the Western Cape called Ses’khona precisely because of your inability to deal with sanitation in this province.

[Applause.]

You know what they did in order to shut them up?


They employed them in the municipality!

[Interjections.]

Now, that is the most crooked way by which to suppress any problem.

[Interjections.]

You should have solved that problem and not entice them by giving them water.

The EFF went on and rejected the budget.

I think they should change their name from EFF to “reject, reject, reject” because there is nothing else that you do support!
And yet, you are the ones who stand up here and tell us that you represent the poorest of the poor.

Yet, everything that is put in front of you, without any substantive motion, you reject, and you reject.

[Applause.]

I want to indicate that all of those matters that you are pointing out, we’ve already indicated here.

You tell us here that the people in some areas drink water with the animals.

We are aware of that.

It is on television on a regular basis.


This MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 93 of 97 is why we are here to make sure that we are going to solve that problem.

This is what we have been assuring you of.

[Interjections.]

We have given you the timeframes.

[Interjections.]

The NFP ...

[Interjections.]

... the money ...

[Interjections.]

... we have already been given ...

[Interjections.]

... Chairperson, the rowdy crowd ...

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick) Order, hon members!
Continue, hon Minister.

The MINISTER OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS, WATER AND SANITATION: We have indicated where we are going to take the money.

We have indicated how we are going to work with the Treasury to make sure that the money that should be coming to these projects is directed to us.

We are going to make sure that the same system that is used for Eskom – of top slicing the amount that goes into the municipalities – comes into this budget.

I have said that to you, and you were not listening.
[Interjections.]

The NFP indicates to us their concern, but I don’t know ... even amongst all of you, each one of us has a constituency.

If we are so concerned about these matters, what have you done in your MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 94 of 97 constituency?

I have not seen a letter from anyone of you where you asked us to help you solve some problem in your constituency.

The only person who has done that is Rev Meshoe.

He has gone now.

Rev Meshoe met me.

[Interjections.]


But his passion is for all solutions to be taken to Israel and, of course, that’s not going to work.

[Laughter.]

We have our own innovation.

We have our own systems.

We are able to solve our own problems.

We have top-class researchers in our country.

We have top-class universities in our country and we are able to solve our problems in that way.

[Applause.]
[Applause.]

We have been proactive and I just want to say that what we have here I will make sure I distribute to each one of you because we’ve worked on it tirelessly and I say this is our plan and I could go over it time and time again.

Now, what is it that we have decided was going to be in this plan?

We decided that the plan must be feasible.

Is it feasible?

Yes.

We put timeframes.

Are those timeframes feasible?

The timeframes are feasible.

[Interjections.]

Was there a clear strategy?


Yes, there is a clear strategy.

We are going to deal with this.

We are going to make sure that our municipalities have a compulsory programme to themselves where they learn how to deal with some of these issues.

We are going to make sure MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 95 of 97 there is an inspection unit.
We are going to take the young people that Ms Sihlwayi was talking about, who have already been trained, to be part of our construction and our inspection unit.

We have a very clear plan.

How are we going to make sure that we manage this plan?

We are going to be there.

We have a seven-day week.

I have already informed our officials that we are going to have a shift of a seven-day week.

We are going to monitor all of these things.

We have very clear strategies out there.


It’s a rigorous project management strategy that we are going to put in place.

It is inclusive.

We would like you to come and join us.

Honourable, ... you ...

[Laughter.]

... you who comes from KwaZulu-Natal.

Yes, I have been to KwaZulu-Natal and they indicated to me that one of their enduring problems is the intrusion of people who are called Madelakubona and they hijack projects and demand money.
I have decided that I am going to have an indaba with this Madelakubona and I want you there so that you can say all of these things you been saying there.

Sibone ukuthi ... (Translation of isiZulu sentence follows.)

[To see that ...] ... you are not grandstanding.

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 96 of 97 Hamba uyokhuluma nabantu bakini ubatshele ... (Translation of isiZulu sentence follows.)

[Go to your people and tell them ...] ... to behave themselves when there are projects.

[Laughter.]

[Applause.]


What we are dealing with here I can summarise as a crisis of democratic success where critical infrastructure, which has been put in there to serve 13% of the population, is now required to serve 100% of the population.

This is what we are dealing with: an aging infrastructure and all the things that go with it.

We are going to do something about it and this is what we are concentrating on.
I want to thank the ANC in particular for making sure that this Budget Vote is supported and those who supported it, especially hon Shaik Emam and Rev Meshoe.

Angiyi e-Israel lungu elihloniphekile Meshoe sizoyixazulula lapha ekhaya.

(Translation of isiZulu sentence follows.)

MPS-BV36 16 JULY 2019 Page: 97 of 97 [I’m not going to Israel, hon Meshoe; we will solve it here at home.]

I wanted to say to you that we actually have far-reaching technologies in our country.
There is a young man who has indicated that he is able to harvest water from fog.

This is a young man.

You can go on about what it is that is innovative.

We will put up an exhibition and indicate what is available in our country and how we are going to make sure that we use that.

Finally, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for the time that you have given us.

We are determined.

We are going to turn this ship around and we are going to make you proud.

Thank you very much.

[Applause.]


The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Thank you, hon Minister.

Hon members are reminded that the House plenary to debate Parliament’s Budget Vote 2 will take place at 2 pm here in the National Assembly Chamber.

Debate concluded.

The mini-plenary session rose at 12:01.